8088 Assembler and Tracer Toolkit

Note: Please review the System Requirements for this CD prior to installing any software.

The 8088_tracer (8088_tra) directory contains the 8088 Assembler and Tracer Toolkit, consisting of an assembler, simulator, and tracer for the Intel 8088 family of processors. This toolkit is designed to teach the rudiments of assembly language programming. It has been carefully designed for educational use, and has been tested in classes for over 10 years. No previous experience with assembly language programming is needed to use it.

Using this toolkit, you can assemble x86 assembly language programs you have written, and then run the resulting binary programs on the included tracer (interpreter). Using the tracer, you can step through your programs one line at a time, run them to specific breakpoints, and perform other tasks to debug your programs and learn how the 8088 processor works.

The directory contains subdirectories that include versions of the software designed to work on Microsoft Windows, Intel/Linux (e.g., little endian), and SPARC/Solaris (e.g., big endian) platforms.

To install this software package, create a directory called tracer on your hard disk. Next, copy the contents of the appropriate CD-ROM subdirectory into the tracer directory. Then, follow the installation instructions for your platform:

• Microsoft Windows
• Intel/Linux
• SPARC/Solaris

You can also find the same installation instructions in a README.txt file contained in the same subdirectory as the installation files for your platform. In addition, the README.txt file in the main 8088_tracer (8088_tra) directory contains instructions for installing all three versions of the software.

The software in the 8088_tracer (8088_tra) directory was written in C by several programmers under the supervision of Evert Wattel of the Vrije Universiteit, who also wrote the user manual.

Prior to installing the 8088 ASSEMBLER AND TRACER TOOLKIT, please review the Prentice Hall End-User License Agreement (EULA) in the back of the book, Structured Computer Organization, 5th Edition.

NOTE: Information about updates to this software can be found here.